The desktop app is built to work with no internet at all. Losing your connection does not stop the timer and does not lose your hours.
How it works
Every minute you track is written to a database on your own machine first. Uploading happens afterwards, in the background, roughly once a minute. The server is never on the path between you and your own data. The timer therefore starts instantly and keeps counting on a train.
Screenshots behave the same way: captured to disk, uploaded when there is a connection to upload over.
What you see while offline
The sync line at the bottom of the tracker reads Offline, saved locally. Everything else works as usual. The projects and tasks you last loaded are cached, so you can still choose between them.
What you cannot do offline
- Sign in for the first time, or switch organization.
- See projects or tasks created since you were last online.
- See today's total updated by work you did on another machine.
When you reconnect
Syncing resumes on its own. Everything that accumulated is sent in order, and each item is tagged so that a retry can never create a duplicate. A long offline stretch may take a few minutes to clear, particularly if screenshots are queued.
The sync line moves through recovering and back to normal. The sync log, reachable with Alt+L or from settings, shows exactly what was sent and when, which is the fastest way to confirm nothing is stuck.
Before you wipe or reinstall a machine
Let the app finish syncing first. Unsent hours live only on that machine, and reinstalling the app removes them along with everything else.